Fossil fools from G20 to Rio+20

Three years ago I was in Pittsburgh and witnessed the G20 leaders commit to phasing out "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term". That wasn´t the urgency we were looking for then, or the one sought with the global #endfossilfuelsubsidies twitter storm today.

But, we did hope then, that by 2012 we would have seen some progress, but the silence has been deafening, they have done absolutely nothing at all. Far from actually shifting subsidies from ‘bads’ to ‘goods’, G20 governments have yet to even define what they mean by "inefficient" or "medium term". Nor are they being transparent on the size of the subsidies.

Developed world governments are epitomising hypocrisy here in Rio. They can´t say they have no money to deliver the Future We Want while handing out hundreds of millions to big oil, big coal and big gas (not to mention the billions they spent on saving greedy banks).

The reason governments are continuing to dole out subsidies to the fossil fuel dinosaurs of the past is the same reason why government are failing here at Rio+20: they are serving the short-term interests of a small number of polluting corporations. It is these corporations who are standing in the way of a fair and green economy.

Rio+20 should deliver transformational change, such as providing renewable energy to the over 1 billion people still without access to electricity. Instead, Rio+20 will be the next meeting ground of the fossil fools gathered in Mexico today. Back in Pittsburgh, I was a little bit hopeful. Here in Rio, that hope has shifted to anger and despair at our governments failure to meet the crises of economy, equity and ecology by investing in our future rather than subsidising our past.

Patricia Lerner is a Senior Political Advisor with Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam

If we agree to “think globally” about climate destabilization and at least one of its consensually validated principal agencies, it becomes evident th...

If we agree to “think globally” about climate destabilization and at least one of its consensually validated principal agencies, it becomes evident that riveting attention on more and more seemingly perpetual GROWTH could be a grave mistake because we are denying how economic and population growth in the communities in which we live cannot continue as it has until now. Each village’s resources are being dissipated, each town’s environment degraded and every city’s fitness as place for our children to inhabit is being threatened. To proclaim something like, ‘the meat of any community plan for the future is, of course, growth’ fails to acknowledge that many villages, towns and cities are already ‘built out’, and also ‘filled in’ with people and pollutants. If the quality of life we enjoy now is to be maintained for the children, then limits on economic and population growth will have to be set. By so doing, we choose to “act locally” and sustainably.

More economic and population growth are soon to become no longer sustainable in many too many places on the surface of Earth because biological constraints and physical limitations are immutably imposed upon ever increasing human consumption, production and population activities of people in many communities where most of us reside. Inasmuch as the Earth is finite with frangible environs, there comes a point at which GROWTH is unsustainable. There is much work to done locally. But that effort cannot reasonably begin without sensibly limiting economic and population growth.

Problems worldwide that are derived from conspicuous overconsumption and rapacious plundering of limited resources, rampant overproduction of unnecessary stuff, and rapid human overpopulation of the Earth can be solved by human thought, judgment and action. After all, the things we have done can be undone. Think of it as ‘the great unwinding of human folly’. Like deconstructing the Tower of Babel. Any species that gives itself the moniker, Homo sapiens sapiens, can do that much, can it not?

“We face a wide-open opportunity to break with the old ways of doing the town’s business…..” That is a true statement. But the necessary “break with the old ways” of continuous economic and population growth is not what is occurring. There is a call for a break with the old ways, but the required changes in behavior are not what is being proposed as we plan for the future. What is being proposed and continues to occur is more of the same, old business-as-usual overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities, the very activities that appear to be growing unsustainably. More business-as-usual could soon become patently unsustainable, both locally and globally. A finite planet with the size, composition and environs of the Earth and a community with the boundaries, limited resources and wondrous climate of villages, towns and cities where we live may not be able to sustain much longer the economic and population growth that is occurring on our watch. Perhaps necessary changes away from UNSUSTAINABLE GROWTH and toward sustainable lifestyles and right-sized corporate enterprises are in the offing.

Think globally while there is still time and act locally before it is too late for human action to make any difference in the clear and presently dangerous course of unfolding human-induced ecological events, both in our planetary home and in our villages, towns and cities. If we choose to review the perspective of a ‘marketwatcher’ who can see what is actually before our eyes, perhaps all of us can get a little more reality-oriented to the world we inhabit and a less deceived by an attractive, flawed ideology that is highly touted and widely shared but evidently illusory and patently unsustainable.

This situation is no longer deniable. Opportunities like the one offered at RIO+20 cannot be missed. During my lifetime, many have understood the Global Predicament we are facing now, but only a few ‘voices in the wilderness’ were willing to speak out loudly and clearly about what everyone can see. It is not a pretty sight. The human community has precipitated a planetary emergency that only humankind is capable of undoing. The present ‘Unsustainable Path’ has to be abandoned in favor of a “road less travelled by”. It is late; there is no time left to waste. Perhaps now we will gather our remarkably abundant, distinctly human resources and respond ably to the daunting, human-induced, global challenges before us, the ones that threaten life as we know it and the integrity of Earth as a fit place for human habitation. Many voices, many more voices are needed for making necessary changes.

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(Unregistered) Abigor
says:

Steven Earl Salmony has hit the nail on the head.
'Sustainable Growth' is an oxymoron. By it's very nature, growth is unsustainable unless in an infinite environment.
However, it is doubtful whether governments will actually do anything or put in place any meaningful global laws in RIO+20. They never have and they never will - until it is too late. History teaches us this.
But we, the people, can make a difference - if only a small one - by acting individually to reduce or own pollution, our own exacerbation of the situation. It may seem small, but if enough of us act then something can be achieved. Let RIO+20 not be known for a failure of governments - which it will - but a success of the people.
May the God-Emperor watch over you all.

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listenin
says:

Thank you for an informed analysis, Steven Earl Salmony

Limits to population growth is a tough one however I agree that if we are to ma...

Thank you for an informed analysis, Steven Earl Salmony

Limits to population growth is a tough one however I agree that if we are to maintain current quality of life it must be addressed. With some accurate information recognition of human population as a global problem is not difficult. The quantity continues to climb while availability of critically necessary resources for the most part decline or remain steady.

Procreation is also personal, and deeply personal. Throughout much of life most any individual may face the choice between contributing to this problem and being part of the solution.